


Doctor of Philosphy

by Nihonkikuasa211



Category: Code Black (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Established Relationship, Graduation, M/M, Slight Sexual Innuendo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-23
Updated: 2016-05-23
Packaged: 2018-06-10 04:06:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6938965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nihonkikuasa211/pseuds/Nihonkikuasa211
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Angus watches as Mario gets his PhD.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Doctor of Philosphy

**Author's Note:**

> My mother just recently graduated with a PhD, and I had this story in my mind ever since.

_Doctor of Philosophy_

 

               “Mario L. Savetti.”

              Angus immediately stood at the sight of Mario walking onto the stage. Pride swelled deep in his heart, almost as if he was the one walking onto the stage and not the dark-haired man clothed in dark blue. A beaming smile framed his face, clapping hard as he watched Mario stand still as he was hooded.

              As he heard Mike and other groups of their friends continuing to clap, Angus still couldn’t believe it. _A doctor of philosophy._ Never in his thirty-five years did he think that he would see Mario finally get his PhD. _Way to go, Mario._ His smile widened even more at the sight of Mario’s advisor hooding him. The blue eyes of the ER doctor Angus Leighton echoed against the gaze of Dr. Leanne Rorish, who smirked, knowing what he was thinking. Mario had almost fainted when he had heard that Dr. Leanne Rorish was his advisor for his dissertation. Angus had almost wanted to laugh at the dark-haired man’s lack of self-control. _But…he did have a point._ His own brother, Mike Leighton whom held a PhD in Biological Science, had studied under her. _“She’s tough,”_ Mike had said one time at two o’clock in the morning as the familiar sounds of the keyboard and cursing filled the room as the brothers sat down for a _very_ early breakfast. Mario had been typing all day, brushing off Angus’ concerns for sleep and a hot meal as the then-graduate student desperately tried to finish his master’s thesis before the deadline. Dr. Leanne Rorish was famous, perhaps even more famous than the president of the university, Ed Harbert, because many of her former students were often known in the academic world of science as well. She also taught third year medical students, which Angus had the pleasure of not taking her class. He would take the pleasant-dispositioned, kind, and English Dr. Neal Hudson and his equally kind wife Christa any day than the infamous demon Dr. Rorish. Mario was hoping to teach as well, although Angus half-wondered how Mario would have the patience to deal with the first years. His mentor certainly did not.

 _“There are a lot of students who don’t pass her “test,” and the so-called advisement is brutal.”_ Mike half-chuckled and didn’t grimace as he ate the burn piece of charred bread and slimy cheese that had too many spices on it too make up for the bland flavor. Angus took a reluctant bite of his food and heavily swallowed. He couldn’t cook to save his life; many times as a med student, he had been saved from hunger by Mario’s culinary skills. Now however, Mario didn’t have time to cook his then-boyfriend a meal. _“I thought I would collapse with joy when I finally defended, and I got the PhD I had been slaving for ten years to get.”_ Angus tried to not wince. If two years-worth of mind-numbing stress, book-hoarding, and the familiar aching sound of the tip-tap of the keyboard was not enough, Angus dreaded of what five years from now would look like. Seeing the slightly panicked look on his younger brother’s face, Mike attempted to sooth his worries, albeit only slightly.

              _“It’s not like he’s in med school, Angus. Your residency was hell, I remember.”_

And yet that did not comfort Angus when he found Mario slumped over his desk, snoring with a book in his lap and a pencil sliding from his ear. The numerous fights that they had about Mario’s health – _“I’m a doctor, damn it, and you will do as I say or else!”_ – and the constant absence, although the brown-haired man was flushed to admit it, of their sex life slightly towards the end caused him to wonder why he had dragged himself into this mess as Mario shouted at him yet _again_ to find something in his office when he could just _clean_ it. He had to reread until he felt that he no longer had sight of the impossibly long dissertation about biology as Mario looked at his imposed second advisor.

              Now it was over. Angus smiled at the sight of the knowing look in Dr. Rorish’s eyes, both her advisee and his husband becoming friends over the past ten years they had known each other. _And I thought med school was bad,_ Angus thought as he watched Dr. Rorish place the hood around Mario’s neck. It was hard to believe that so much time had passed. Wasn’t it only yesterday that Angus had been fighting with an asshole freshman named Mario Savetti, when had arrived at the University of California?

              Angus felt the slim ring on his finger, remembering of the time when Mario had asked him to marry him. It had been the day of his graduation – after graduating from med school and Mario beaming as Angus was finally known as Dr. Leighton. It had been a scorn to his father that his younger son had decided to pursue a medical degree instead of continuing the line of doctor of philosophies that stemmed from his great-grandfather. He had almost been disowned by that son of a bitch, until ever-loyal Mike and his boyfriend Mario stepped in. After hearing the heated conversation between Mike and his father, Angus had wept. He could still remember the fear in his stomach and clutching onto Mario tightly as he whispered that he was such an idiot. _“Why did I decided to apply for med school?”_ They had been lying in bed and Angus had his face buried in Mario’s chest. _“Who really cares if I wear a white coat and play a hero? My dad…will still hate me.”_

Mario hadn’t respond as Angus’ whispers simply became untillable, his fingers surprisingly gentle as stroked Angus’ hair. The then-heart-broken younger man remembered every word that Mario had said to him; that it didn’t matter what his father thought; all that mattered that he was happy and pursued his dream of being doctor who worked in the ER. It had been the first time, in the two years of their dating, that his dark-haired boyfriend had told him that he loved him. Too stunned to reply, Angus remembered of how he stared at Mario for a number of seconds, before he replied as well the words that came from his frantically-beating heart.

              _“Besides, I think you would look hot in scrubs and that white coat.”_

Angus blushed at the memory of the heated gaze of his then-boyfriend at his words, and of what had happened afterward. The graduation from medical school had been special, because he had finally achieved something that he wanted, no longer only about pleasing his father. Mario had been in the crowd, clapping and smiling more than Angus had ever seen him. They had been alone during Mario’s proposal. Well, not quite. It was at a fancy restaurant that Mario often claimed that he disliked. The smile and joy that had framed the graduate student’s face faded as they started to order. The dark-haired young man wouldn’t respond to his boyfriend’s questions, and Angus had almost given up when Mario suddenly pulled his right hand towards him and slowly took out a slim silver ring, where it was placed on his finger.

              _“Will you…?’_

Angus had almost laughed and cried at the sight of a shy Mario. He had never been the nervous one before. That was Angus.

              _“Yes,”_ he had whispered.

              And now here they were at another part of their lives. If anyone would have told Angus on his first day of classes in his freshman year that the asshole who had bumped into him without an apology and bullied him would become his strongest supporter – his rock – during those mind-numbing hours of studying, studying, and more studying, and a cry pillow when it was just _too much_ , and later become his husband, Angus would have called them insane. Now however, as he stared at his husband as he stood with the hood telling those that he had graduated with a PhD, Angus never could have felt more proud.

              “You were amazing.” Angus stated as Mike bid the two goodbye and the two began to leave the auditorium, waving goodbye briefly to their mutual friend Malaya who had graduated as well, holding her wife Carla and their son Phillip, who was protesting at being held like a baby despite being ten years old, as their parents took pictures.

              “I just walked on the stage and stood there as Dr. Rorish hooded me,” Mario protested. Angus looked back, seeing Mario in full for the first time. Not even family members could see the PhD graduates in their gowns. His husband was clothed in blue, the dark blue of the regalia looking heavy and hot especially in the warm California weather. _A doctor of philosophy in Biological Science._

“That doesn’t make me any less proud,” Angus stated, laughing slightly as Mario rolled his dark brown eyes in exasperation. _He’s already heard this many times before,_ the medical doctor thought as he continued to stare at the now-doctor of philosophy. _In that case…_

Angus slid behind Mario, his hands resting across Mario’s abdomen as the slightly taller man inhaled Mario’s neck. “You must be uncomfortable in that gown, _Dr._ Savetti,” Angus teased. He felt slightly triumphant at the slightly shocked look that his husband was giving him. “Would you like me to help you relieve your stress?”

              “Hey, not here!” Mario hissed, although a faint red was painted across his cheeks. “If I have to wear this thing for every graduation, I do not want to buy this eight-hundred-dollar glorified _dress_ again if your tear it off me!”

              Angus laughed. Mario was still somewhat flustered, but there was a smile on his eyes.

              His hand slid into Mario’s own, softly colliding against their slim wedding rings.

              “Let us go home, my dear Dr. Savetti.”


End file.
